Bhaktapur/Nagarkot/Tamar’s 28th Birthday

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This past weekend, we ventured beyond Kathmandu city for the first time. We visited Bhaktapur and Nagarkot, two of the Kathmandu valley’s more popular tourist locals. Bhaktapur was one of the valley’s original city kingdoms before Nepal unified in the 18th century. It has some of the oldest historical landmarks in Nepal, as well as, of course, an obscene amount of pagodas and stupas. At this point, they are all beginning to sort of blend, much like how all the cathedrals of France began to become the same after about 3 weeks. I will in all likelihood return to bhaktapur in April, as it is emerging as the front-runner for the site of my research. I shall spare you the details...

Nagarkot was also quite lovely. It lies at the edge of the Kathmandu valley and is famous for its keen view of the Langtang Himal Range. We, however, were not so fortunate to witness the splendor of this view due to haze/pollution (that is my next entry, I promise), which was rather ironic because we were staying at “Hotel View Point”. Nevertheless, we took a nice three-hour hike to a pleasant lookout point. It was the first time that we got up in elevation, the hotel was at 7200ft and we probably hiked to about 8200-8500ft. Nagarkot is about 20km from kathmandu, so you rise about 3000 feet in that space, most of which is in the last 5km. This made for an intensely harrowing bus ascent. There is hardly room for one vehicle on the road; every 100yards there is a blind corner or hairpin and sheer drops on each side. Like the city roads, usage is not limited to vehicles; cows, goats, pedestrians, dogs, and chickens abound. Oh, and apparently the road we were on was a “good” one.

Last, but not least, we celebrated Tamar’s 28th year. Of the 28, this is the 3rd time she has celebrated her birth outside of her natal land. 21 was in Paris, 27 in Guadeloupe, and 28 in Kathmandu. The program staff made/found a cake and gave her a fun hat to wear. Later in the evening, we went to a “traditional” Nepali restaurant—meaning a for tourists Nepali restaurant. T’was a bit gimmicky with dancing and such, but it had a nice atmosphere and we had a good time. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAMAR!!!!

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Comments

[kmp]

happy birthday, miss t! you guys take some decent photos, i'm not gonna lie. regarding the mountain bus, ethan has expressed similar distaste for the driving conditions here. but really, don't die if you can help it.